Literary visionary

Kadushin: “I don’t think there’s ever been a time when university presses have been more crucial than right now.”

Wisconsin might seem an unlikely place for a publishing house that specializes in LGBTQ literature. But over the last three decades, the UW Press has become known as a national leader in publishing some of the finest — and most diverse — titles from LGBTQ authors.

The press owes that distinction in large part to the efforts of Raphael Kadushin, who retired as executive editor this fall. In the early 1990s, he launched a groundbreaking series called “Living Out,” believed to be the only series in the world devoted to LGBTQ memoirs. Over the years, the award-winning series has expanded beyond memoir to include histories, biographies, fiction and travel books — all from the LGBTQ perspective — and boasts more than 200 titles.

“This is really one of the most focused, most successful lists [in publishing], and it’s funny that this is coming out of Wisconsin,” he adds. “People always underestimate us.”

Kadushin, a former Isthmus restaurant critic, graduated from UW-Madison in 1975 and earned his master’s in 1978. He worked at UW Press as a graduate student and eventually became acquisitions editor. He relished the role and the opportunity to shape the identity of the publishing house, which had historically focused on academic titles. “For me, acquisitions is the most creative part of publishing,” he says.

Kadushin, who is gay, noticed that none of the major publishers had a focused, dedicated book list for LGBTQ titles — even as gay visibility and civil rights were becoming increasingly mainstream. He pitched the “Living Out” series to a committee at UW Press, and once it was approved, he saw a “creative outpouring” from authors. “There were so many books waiting to be published,” he recalls. In 1996, the series debuted with Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest by Milwaukee writer Will Fellows, who chronicled coming-of-age stories from more than three dozen gay men, ages 24 to 84.

“It was just a real sensation,” Kadushin says, adding that Farm Boys was a 1997 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, which honors LGBTQ books and authors, and was eventually adapted into an Off-Broadway play in New York. “Even the sense that there were gay lives in the Midwest was a revelation.”

Trebor Healey, whose award-winning novel A Horse Named Sorrow was published by UW Press in 2012, says Kadushin has a reputation for high standards and an eye for choosing titles that go beyond genre writing. “Raphael always had a sense of wanting to have LGBTQ material that isn’t just about [being gay]. He wants universal stories told by LGBTQ people.”

Healey’s novel, which tells the story of a grieving man who bikes across the country with the ashes of a lover who died of AIDS, fit into Kadushin’s interest in highlighting gay travel writing. “Gays are born natural observers,” Kadushin says. Healey agrees. “It comes from a sense of otherness,” he adds.

Lucy Bledsoe, whose book The Ice Cave chronicles her travels to remote locations, including the Mojave Desert and Antarctica, says it’s difficult for LGBTQ authors to break into publishing and UW Press stands out for being stringent in its standards and having an unusually hands-on editing process.

“Anyone who’s interested in LGBTQ writing knows that UW Press has been a leader for many years,” Bledsoe says. But unlike larger commercial publishers that specialize in the genre, UW Press has a wider vision for its collection. “So many times [publishers] only want you to be a queer person, but most of us are in a much wider community,” she says. “Queer identity is only a piece of it.”

With seismic shifts in technology affecting the media and publishing landscape, Kadushin worries about the future of operations like UW Press. Still, he believes that university presses will play an important role in publishing top-quality writing and elevating important voices. Unlike big publishers who shoot for commercial success, small operations have the luxury of choosing books based on their value to society.

Says Kadushin: “I don’t think there’s ever been a time when university presses have been more crucial than right now.”

Kadushin, who has simultaneously managed a busy freelance writing career while working at the press, will continue to write for outlets including National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler and TheWall Street Journal.